Up Next: Bury

Stevenage welcome struggling Bury to the Lamex Stadium this weekend hoping to claim their second successive home win and extend their unbeaten league run to nine games.

The Shakers have struggled for points so far this season and certainly weren’t helped by the departure of manager Richie Barker to Crawley a week before the start of the new campaign. However with former Leeds boss Kevin Blackwell unveiled as Barker’s successor earlier this week, the Bury players will certainly be out to impress in his first game in charge.

Last time we met:

Stevenage kept their promotion hopes alive as Joel Byrom's penalty helped them comfortably beat Bury to secure the final play-off place in League One. Craig Reid made it 1-0 when he pounced on Efe Sodje's poor clearance, controlled the ball on his chest and fired home. Byrom doubled Stevenage's advantage, converting from the spot after Sodje had fouled Robin Shroot in the area. Bury created few opportunities and Chris Beardsley sealed the victory with a powerful effort from 20 yards out.

Stevenage could recall Luke Freeman and Robin Shroot to the starting line-up after boss Gary Smith opted for more physical players for the game at Doncaster. Darius Charles may also return after appearing as a late sub in that game.

Bury could name Lennell John-Lewis in their starting line-up at the expense of loan striker Tom Hopper. Winger David Worrall could also start after coming on against MK Dons as a sub following injury.

The Bury Scout Report

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Bury sit rock bottom of League 1 having gained just three points from their opening eight games. Stalemates against Brentford (0-0), Sheffield United (1-1) and Coventry (2-2) have earned them their points whilst they’ve also suffered defeats to Doncaster (1-2), Notts County (0-2), Preston (1-2) and most recently MK Dons (1-4).

The Shakers have scored just seven goals in their nine games across all competitions this season, through just five different players. This compares to Boro’s 18 goals in their 11 games with 11 different scorers.

If Bury are to recover from their poor start to the season then they’ll have to start providing more support and ammunition for striker David Healy to fire in the goals. The 33-year old Northern Ireland international, who has represented his country over 100 times and is their all-time record goal scorer with 35 goals, arrived at Gigg Lane just after the season started and marked his debut with a penalty in the 2-2 draw at Coventry. After coming through the Manchester United youth system Healy has gone on to play for 11 teams, most notably Preston (45 goals in 139 appearances), Leeds (29 goals in 111 appearances), Sunderland (1 goal in 13 appearances) and Rangers (4 goals in 19 appearances) before leaving the Ibrox club at the end of last season following the club’s liquidation.

Bury Trivia:

• Award-winning film director and artistic director for the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, Danny Boyle, is a Shakers fan.

• Notable former players at Bury include international goalkeepers Dean Kiely and Neville Southall.

• Bury’s Gigg Lane stadium is also home to FC United of Manchester, the semi-pro club formed in 2005 by Manchester United supporters opposed to the takeover by Malcolm Glazer.

• Bury’s nickname of the Shakers originated from the club’s 1892 Lancashire Senior Cup campaign. Then then chairman / team manager J T Ingham retorted to questioning of his team’s ability with “We shall shake ‘em, in fact we are the Shakers”.

Stat Attack:

• The referee for this game will be Graham Scott from Oxfordshire. His most recent fixture in charge of Boro was our 4-2 win over MK Dons in January, a game in which he gave six yellows and one red card.

• The next appearance for Oliver Risser, Bondz N’Gala and Robbie Rogers will be their 5th for the club.

• Robin Shroot’s next goal for Stevenage FC will be his 10th for the club.